A Small Change

I believe that in living with a brain injury, self-awareness is a crucial factor in success, growth, well-being, etc. Recently I became aware of a small change I needed to make in my own life. The opponent: the television. It wasn't as though I was a couch potato 24/7, with a full-time job, physically and socially active. And though I did watch a fair amount, my main concern was "when" I was choosing to veg out and watch tv.

I noticed it especially occuring when I was stressed and/or anxious, as a way to "pass the time" until I could go to bed, the moment passed, etc. I also noticed I especially watched when I wasn't sure what else to do with my time. Sort of like my brain (and I) didn't want to go through the process of "what should I do now?"

I am by no means trying to axe television watching. There have been many times when the vegging out with a shoe has been a useful strategy for me. But I was curious to see if I could reduce the amount of tv time. Truthfully, I wasn't sure if I could! But I set out with just one goal: before I sat down to watch tv, take a couple of minutes and figure out if there was something else I needed/wanted to do instead. To help me with this goal I made sure I had cookbooks with new recipes (to occupy my time cooking) new books from the library, and a couple of other activities.

It took some time but I did begin to see results! I noticed that making the change wasn't as hard as I thought it might be. I noticed that I could manage activities, phases, etc without having the tv on. (ie when I was cooking dinner) I found my motivation to watch tv decreased and I didn't feel the "buzz" in my head/body after I knew I'd had a noise/stimulation overdose. I found more things I enjoyed doing or needed to get done. Also, I found that since tv wasn't an automatic time filler, the times when I did watch tv, I enjoyed it so much more!

Any small change success stories you would like to share? Strategies, ideas that helped you???